Megawatts that come by sea

contributions of a power plant ship to science and the technical memory of the Brazilian energy sector

Abstract

The paper analyses the trajectory of the Seapower ship and its contributions to the technical and scientific memory of the Brazilian energy sector. A model of energy production that has been little explored in research, the object under analysis has a fascinating epic: developed in the 1940s in the United States, the Seapower was used to supply energy during the Second World War. After passing through Europe and Africa, it arrived in Brazil in the 1950s, acquired by the Brazilian Hydroeletric Company, named Piraquê and supplying energy to the regions of Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. From the 1970s onwards, it was taken to the North, to Manaus-AM and Belém-PA, and was renamed Poraquê, the electric fish of the Amazon. After a series of adaptations necessary for its use, the ship was decommissioned in the 1980s, with a sad end when it became a “wave breaker”, wrecked on the shore of Cametá-PA, where it still lies today. Based on a documentary motif, logbooks, newspapers, government reports and oral sources, in dialogue with the sector's bibliography, the analysis of this trajectory contributes to making considerations about our energy heritage, technical and technological experiences, international cooperation agreements, as well as broadening the field of studies on the history of science and the energy sector, its gaps and problems that still permeate the field of research.